Description: Arts in Action provides funding for projects that connect USC faculty and students with LA community partners and use the arts to promote positive social change. Arts in Action builds on and extends USC’s historic commitment to addressing some of society’s most intractable problems. Arts in Action projects incorporate a range of arts-based practices designed to identify and tackle systemic forms of oppression connected to, for example, homelessness, mass incarceration, the COVID-19 pandemic, racism, gender oppression, sustainability and climate justice, educational inequity, xenophobia, and multiple forms of violence and hate. Arts in Action projects are often participant-driven, blurring the lines between “artist” and “audience.” The program prioritizes artwork that grows from a shared process and where the collaborative act of creating the work is core to the project’s impact and value. USC faculty and students working with community partners are invited to submit preliminary proposals for Arts in Action 2023 for projects beginning no earlier than February 1, 2023. These grants will support community-based projects that address social issues, bring people together, facilitate dialogue, and create spaces to imagine and design future change.
Award: Grant amounts range from $3,000 to $28,000.
Eligibility: Eligible disciplines include the visual arts and design, dramatic arts, cinematic and media arts, music, dance, and architecture. Projects involving multiple art forms are welcome and encouraged. Proposals that include at least one faculty member from one of USC’s six arts schools are encouraged and will be prioritized. Teams comprised of faculty/students from multiple USC schools are encouraged. Projects that centrally involve students are strongly encouraged. Project outputs should include at least one free public-sharing event, and projects should include at least one community partnership. Please see RFP for full guidelines.
Deadline: 5 pm, Oct. 3, 2022